HAMILTON — A Hamilton Spectator reporter was fined $31,000 on Tuesday for refusing to identify a confidential source in a case viewed as a setback for hard-earned press freedoms.

Superior Court Justice David Crane, who found Spectator reporter Ken Peters in contempt of court last week, ordered him to pay the fine to cover lawyers' costs during the delay his refusal to reveal a source caused in a civil case.

The Spectator intends to appeal but has said it is willing to pay the fine on Peters' behalf.

Courts do not often find journalists in contempt and it's virtually unheard of in Canada for reporters to get jail time for refusing to reveal their sources.

Peters and the Canadian Association of Newspaper Editors say the hefty fine will have a chilling effect on many journalists who are deeply committed to protecting those who give them sensitive information.

"This whole ruling . . . is a huge chill for the journalistic community across Canada,'' said Peters, who at the age of 45 has reported for the Spectator for 19 years.

"I'm lucky in the sense that my employer has the financial wherewithal to back me up here, but what's this mean for all the freelancers and all the smaller journalists out there who don't have that backing?''

The Canadian Association of Newspaper Editors said in a release that press freedoms "are necessary to serve the public interest.''

Ontario's attorney general should "denounce the ruling and clarify that a reporter's right to shield his sources is sacrosanct,'' the association said.

"Left unchecked, it could lead many citizens to assume they cannot provide vital information in confidence to journalists.''

Crane ruled that reporter-source confidentiality ends at the courtroom door.

"That's troubling,'' Peters said. "Who's going to come forward and provide information in an exchange for confidentiality if they know that it's only going to extend so far?''

Despite free-press guarantees in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, journalists in Canada have no absolute right to protect their sources.

However, Canadian courts have generally allowed reporters to withhold names if they made an explicit promise of confidentiality.

Peters had asked last week that he be jailed rather than be fined.

"I haven't tried to work out how many days in jail $30,000 would work out to,'' Peters said. "I really don't want to go there if I don't have to.''

The contempt of court citation came when Peters refused Crane's order to answer a question about who was at a 1995 meeting at which confidential information was leaked to him.

Peters had been subpoenaed in a lawsuit launched by St. Elizabeth Villa, a Hamilton nursing home, against the former Hamilton-Wentworth region, the city and public health officials.

The nursing home claims it was defamed by those agencies and has sued them for negligence and breach of civic duties following allegations of abuse and substandard care.

Former city alderman Henry Merling subsequently testified that he was the one who had provided Peters with the documents.

Peters, who covers the CFL Tiger-Cats for the Spectator, is to return to court on Wednesday to answer more questions about his articles on St. Elizabeth Villa.